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Motivated to stop lurking

Hello everyone!

I'm an IT professional with a serious cooking hobby. I'm completely impressed with the skill and stamina that professional cooks bring to their job.

I learned a ton from the old knife forums, but learned by reading and doing. Since I already spend 8 or 12 hours a day at the computer, I wasn't much motivated to post there. I amassed a fairly serious collection of german, japanese, french, and american blades, and learned to sharpen and use them to something like their full potential. I like a chinese chefs knife when I'm doing large quantities of vegetables, but a 240 to 270mm chefs knife is the one I reach for when I'm doing smaller tasks.

In short, I became a knife snob (but did learn that great and expensive were not synonyms). I've left a knife at my parents and each of my siblings' house so I don't get blisters when slicing an onion. When it got serious with my then-girlfriend I made sure she had a cute little 8" Mac knife in her drawer so I didn't have to risk using serrated chinese-made knives for a romantic dinner.

I love the difference a good sharpening makes, and enjoy the zen-like repetition. I tend to wait until I have a few that need it before I pull out the stones. I've learned how to do the japanese steel on waterstones, but tend to do the german steel on oilstones with water. When I sent out some much-abused inherited knives to a professional sharpening, I resharpened them as soon as I got them back. Admittedly, they had managed to straighten out the blade which I can't do freehand on waterstones.

Then I fell in love, got married, and had to share my kitchen. My lovely young wife predictably reaches for a 100-200mm knife. After some initial hesitation at seeing me pick up 11 or 12" swords to slay the smallest vegetable, she's come around, and surprised me with a set of monogrammed K Sab steak knives last Christmas.

motivation

Since getting meeting the woman who became my wife, I've been spending more money on flowers and jewelery, and less on kitchen hobbies.

I've been meaning to downsize my collection for some time, because some of the knives simply didn't click: 300mm sounded great, but it was simply too big to feel comfortable, and my 240mm Hiromoto AS Gyuto spent much more time in the drawer after I got the 270mm wa-gyuto.

But now I need to get serious, and will be putting some on ebay and possibly on KKF: my wife is in the US armed forces, and we're being transferred to a location overseas this summer.

Since getting meeting the woman who became my wife, I've been spending more money on flowers and jewelery, and less on kitchen hobbies.

I've been meaning to downsize my collection for some time, because some of the knives simply didn't click: 300mm sounded great, but it was simply too big to feel comfortable, and my 240mm Hiromoto AS Gyuto spent much more time in the drawer after I got the 270mm wa-gyuto.

But now I need to get serious, and will be putting some on ebay and possibly on KKF: my wife is in the US armed forces, and we're being transferred to a location overseas this summer.

Welcome to KKF. Where is your wife's next PCS?

“Though I could not caution all, I still might warn a few; Don’t lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools.” Robert Hunter